During a news conference on Wednesday, Obama said that a “majority of Americans support laws requiring background checks before all gun purchases so that criminals can’t take advantage of legal loopholes to buy a gun from somebody who won’t take the responsibility of doing a background check at all.”

This is a direct reference to gun shows.

Under the Firearm Owners Protection Act of 1986, individuals “not engaged in the business” of selling firearms are not required to conduct background checks on buyers or maintain records of sale.

For gun-grabbers, this law is known as the “gun show loophole.”

Michael Bloomberg, New York Mayor and rabid anti-Second Amendment activist, claims that 40 percent of firearms sales occur either at gun shows or over the internet. Bloomberg’s claim is based on 15-year-old survey data released by the National Institute of Justice, a development and evaluation agency of the United States Department of Justice.

Prior to Obama’s press conference, White House spokesman Jay Carney said the president would support closing the so-called gun show loophole. He also said Obama is “actively supportive” of legislation to reinstate a ban on firearms the government calls “assault-style weapons” that expired in 2004.

Obama appointed vice president Joe Biden to head up a task force that will look into how to rollback the Second Amendment and deny firearms to law-abiding Americans. Biden is described as a “longtime gun control advocate.”

“No politician could be better suited to the challenge of passing federal gun control legislation than Biden. Over the past four decades, Biden has been one of the most consistent and effective advocates of gun control and violence prevention legislation. In 1994, Biden shepherded the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act through the Senate, a near miracle six years in the making,” CNN reports.

Biden and Obama’s task force will likely decide that background checks at gun shows are impractical and may move to outlaw the practice. In 2005, it was estimated that 5,000 gun shows take place each year in the United States.

Moreover, new restrictions on the Second Amendment may be possible during the next session of Congress. So-called moderate Democrats in Congress have flipped on support for the Second Amendment, including Sens. Harry Reid (D-NV), Joe Manchin (D-WV), and Mark Warner (D-VA).

Obama claims “old assumptions” about the Second Amendment are in transition following the Sandy Hook school massacre.

“It’s encouraging that people… have been willing to challenge some old assumptions and change their long-held positions,” he said. “That conversation must continue. But this time, the words need to lead the action.”